Measuring the volume of cingulate cortex in Chinese normal adults of the Han nationality on the high-resolution MRI

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Objective To explore the normal range of cingulate cortex volumes of Chinese adults of the Han nationality and its relationship with age, which provide morphological data for the construction of database for Chinese Standard Brain.Methods This is a clinical multi-center study.One thousand Chinese healthy volunteers ( age range = 18 to 70) recruited from 15 hospitals were divided into 5 groups, i.e.,Group A (age range = 18 to 30), B (age range=31 to 40), C (age range =41 to 50), D (age range =51 to 60), and E (age range =61 to 70).Each group contained 100 males and 100 females.All of the volunteers were scanned by MR using T1 weighted three-dimensional magnetization prepared rapid acquisition gradient echo sequence.Cingulate cortex volume (including bulk volume and the left/right volume) was measured semi-manually using 3D volume analysis software.Cingulate cortex volumes among age groups were compared by one-way ANOVA.Right and left cingnlate cortex volumes between sexualities were analyzed by paired samples t test.The relationship between cingulate cortex volume and age was analyzed by Pearson correlations and regression analysis.Results Cingulate cortex volumes of male and female were (20 347 ± 2504) and ( 19 432 ± 2184) mm3 respectively, and the male's was significantly larger than that of female's (two sample t'-test for independent samples, t'= 6.156, P < 0.05 ).Right and left cingnlate cortex volumes of male were ( 10 717 ± 1629) and (9630 ± 1498) mm3 respectively, and those of female's were ( 10 064 ± 1407 ) and ( 9368 ± 1441 )mm3 respectively.The volumes of cingulate cortex were significantly different between right and left in male or female ( t = - 12.960, - 8.511, P < 0.05 ),and right was larger than left.Bilateral cingulate cortex volume in male among group A, B, C, D and E[left: ( 10 132 ± 1291 ), ( 10 113 ± 1638), (9599 ± 1576), (9594 ± 1288), (8710 ± 1212) mm3 ; right:(11 212±1442), (11 096±1602), (11 040±1403), (10 633±1638), (9604±1522) mm3] had statistical differences (F = 16.738, 18.707, P < 0.01 ) ; and those in female among five age groups[left:(9689 ± 1426), (9652 ± 1676), (9347 ± 1500), (9098 ± 1225), (9053 ± 1233) mm3 ; fight: ( 10 558 ±1325), ( 10 266 ± 1463), ( 10 100 ± 1497), (9779 ± 1304), (9617 ± 1254) mm3] also had significant differences (F = 16.859,7.528,P <0.01 ).Bilateral cingnlate cortex volume in both male and female were negatively correlated with age ( r = - 0.330, - 0.324, - 0.169, - 0.243, P < 0.05 ), though the correlation coefficient is not high.Conclusions Cingnlate cortex volume could be accurately measured on the high-resolution MRI with 3D volume analysis software, which can provide morphological data for the construction of database for Chinese Standard Brain.The results may provide normal range for the diagnosis of the volumetric deficits of cingulate cortex. Key words: Gyrus cingnli; Magnetic resonance imaging; Organ size